King of the Valley
by TLBT Nerd
Summary: Speckles & his family are living far in the Mysterious Beyond, happy as can be. But when tragedy claims the life of their parents, they must go to the Great Valley. Upon arrival, Speckles and his siblings discover that life is different there, and they decide to live among the natives. But after some time passes, Speckles and his siblings learn something that changes their lives.
1. Prolouge

**Prologue**

In the middle of the night, eight young dinosaurs were running for their lives. This group of young'uns consisted of an _Apatosaurus_ , a _Stegosaurus_ , a Triceratops, an Oviraptor _,_ a Parasaurolophus, a Pteranodon, a Pachycephlosaurus, and a Therizinosaurus, "Are they still chasing after us?!" the Apato yelled. The Oviraptor looked back.

Chasing them were four Tarbosauruses accompanied by two Tyrannosaurus _Rexes_. One of the Tarbos roared at them, "They're still after us!" she said. The Trike glanced back at the six pursuing carnivores, "They just don't give up!" it said.

The Tarbos and the Rexes continued chasing after the young herbivores. A faded-green Tarbo communicated with a reddish-colored Rex, " **You chase them that way, then we'll cut them off, chase them towards our pack, and then we'll have them cornered!** " it said.

The Rex nodded, " **Got it.** " it said. The two Tarbos and the Rex continued chasing the young herbivores straight, while the other Tarbos and the other Rex split off to the right, " **This way. They're heading towards Ambush Alley. That place has its name for a reason. If we do this correctly…we'll be blocking them** **.** " the green Tarbo said.

The herbivores saw half the carnivores split up, and they didn't know what they were doing, but they did know that they were planning something, "What are they doing?" the Pachy said. The Therizino looked to the right, "I think they're going to cut us off. Go left!" it said. The Therizino darted to the left, and the rest of them followed behind.

The carnivores realized that they knew, " **No! They figured it out! New plan. Flank them to the left, but don't let them see you!** " the green Tarbo said. The others heard him, and they slowed down. They went to the left side after everyone was completely out of sight so that the herbivores didn't spot them. Once they were on the left, the Tarbos and Rex made sure that they weren't within visual range of the herbivores.

It was working. The herbivores never saw them change sides, and they still thought they were going to flank them from the right. Then, the thickness of the trees diminished, and the herbivores entered a flat, open mountain pass. The carnivores entered the plains only seconds behind them. The other carnivores emerged to their left and they started to merge towards the herbivores, who were starting to panic, "Oh, no! They're about to cut us off from the left! Run faster!" the Therizino yelled.

They all went to sprinting as fast as they physically could, but the carnivores were faster. That and also the fact that the carnivores now had their whole pack of 3 more T-Rexes, another Tarbosaurus, and 5 _Carnotauruses_ start converging on the poor herbivores. They hoped to just barely make it through the brigade of teeth, but they weren't fast enough. The carnivores blocked them, and they all came skidding to a stop.

They turned around to run the other direction, but the carnivores had surrounded them, "No! We're trapped!" the Pachy yelled. The carnivores' mouths started watering, and the green Tarbo started approaching them, "What? You!? Of all the ones to be trying to kill us, why you!?" the Apato yelled. The Tarbo lowered his head, "Why? WHY!? You know why!" he roared.

The herbivores knew what he was talking about, "You can't blame us for what they did! We hadn't even hatched yet!" the Therizino said. The Tarbo bared his teeth at him, "They were your relatives! They were all relatives of all of you, and they killed ours." he growled. "No!" the Apato yelled.

Then, a blue-eyed, female Tarbosaurus started eyeing the Stego. The Apatosaurus tried to reason with the carnivores, convince them or their innocence, "Don't kill us! You have to realize that what happened was an accident! It wasn't our fault!" he yelled. The Tarbo got a feeling deep down in his heart, but then the memory of the terrible day came rushing back to him.

 _It was 18 years earlier, and the Tarbos were all together and the mother and father were taking their 3-year-olds on a hunt. For the past 2 years, they had taught their children the dangers they had to be careful of, what tactics worked best when stalking the prey, and everything else their children needed to know. They had also made their kids watch the two of them when they were hunting._

 _They observed and quickly learned what their parents' main tactic was. They either divided and conquered, or they chased and ambushed. They knew what to do. Now it was their turn. Their parents picked their children's target, a juvenile Protoceratops wandering away from the rest of the herd. They instructed their children carefully on how to kill a Proto. To make up for their small size, they were amazing at running away_ _._

 _They all were anxious for their first hunt, so they weren't really paying attention to their parents' instructions. Eventually, they let their children go after their target while following behind them, just in case something happened. Little did any of them know that something was. The four younglings were hiding in the bushes near the Protoceratops._

 _Their parents had taught the four never to rush. Be patient until you find the perfect opportunity. When they found theirs, they all sprang towards their target. The Proto had no time to react before he had his jaws around its neck, his brother, was biting on to the Proto's leg, and their sisters were biting onto its tail. Then, he made the final kill, breaking the dino's neck._

 _However, before they could begin to eat their kill, there was the faint sound of thundering footsteps in the distance. Their parents tried to call their young ones to them, but they didn't listen, they were focused on eating their kill. But as they were about to start tearing off pieces of flesh, a herd of Parasaurs, Trikes, Stegos, Ankys, and about 3 Carnotauruses in total. They were running away from something, but in the process of doing this, they were also running towards the children._

 _Instinctively, they all started running away, but they couldn't outrun a stampede of fully-grown herbivores. Their parents started running alongside, trying to find an opportunity to get their kids out of the stampede. Eventually, the stampede was gradually getting closer to a cliffside._

 _The four cried to their parents for help. Then, a Parasaur tripped over a rock, which an Anky tripped over that, which made it roll over, making its tail hit a Trike in the face, which then started a chain reaction._

 _Then, two of them were about to get crushed under an Anky, but then their mother charged in and knocked them safely out of the way, but the Anky accidentally hit her in the face with its tail, dazing her, and then she was shoved out of the way by a Trike. But now the stampede was now alongside the cliff, and so was she._

After that, he didn't want to relive any more of that day. But then his fury came back, "I don't care if it was unpredictable events! Our parents were killed, and so are yours." he said. The herbivores' eyes all opened in terror. Then, more carnivores started dragging the dead bodies of all of the herbivores' parents and relatives out from the trees. "You killed our parents? Why!? It wasn't their fault that your parents died, either. Since it was an unfortunate series of events, nobody should take blame." the Apato said.

The Tarbo was getting more and more furious as the herbivores continued refusing to take responsibility for their actions, "It wasn't an accident! We were all there, and we saw it all happen! Your kind killed our parents, and both they and all of you are responsible!" the Tarbo snarled.

The Apato was not stopping, "How can you put the blame on our parents when none of them were even there? Not only that, but how can you put the blame on us when you know very well that none of us were even eggs when your parents died? It just happened!" he yelled back.

The Tarbo was really starting to get agitated at the Apato specifically, "You know what? Right now, there are some of you who truly need to take the blame for something you very well know you did. You killed all of our parents because you and your arrogant relatives cannot accept that the fact that neither any of us nor any of our parents are to take the responsibility for the deaths of yours! None of you can accept that what happened on that day wasn't anyone's fault! Nobody could have possibly known that that was going to happen, and nobody was trying to kill your parents! You all know very well that I am right!" the Apato yelled.

That was it, the Tarbo snapped. He gave a loud, bellowing roar that could've been heard from almost 10 miles away. Then, his head started coming down on the Apato, "NOOOOOO!" he screamed.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Dangerous Living**

 _23 years before:_

In the plains of Eastern Utah, laid the nest of a Tarbosaurus. The mother had been guarding her eggs for an entire month and a half without budging. She had been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, but it seemed that no eggs were going hatch. She was beginning to lose hope. Then, she heard a cracking sound. She focused on the nest, and she saw that two of the eggs were moving.

She watched, and then two smalls emerged head emerged from the eggs. She was joyful to have some of her eggs hatch despite the harsh conditions of the Utah plains. She nuzzled her babies lovingly, and she gently lifted them out and placed them down next to the nest. She laid back down next to her children, and she was about to go back to sleep.

However, it wasn't long before there were heavy footsteps approaching. The mother immediately upped her guard, and she was ready. Then, another Tarbosaurus emerged from the trees. It was her mate. She lay back down to rest, and her mate went over to the nest, " **Only two?** **Well, at least some of the children hatched. That's better than none** **.** " he thought.

They eyed their two babies. Both of them were female, and they had the same color scheme, " **What should we name them?** " the father asked. The mother looked at the two infants, thinking. Eventually, she got an idea, " **This one will be Scarlet. And this one Rose** **.** " she said, nuzzling her babies. Her mate thought that those names were perfect for their two girls.

But then, there were more cracking sounds and two more eggs started moving. The male nudged his mate to get up, and then they were both watching the nest. Then, two more heads emerged from the next two eggs. There was a turquoise colored male that hatched from one egg, and he seemed spooked at first. He was running around almost like a headless chicken, and he was fast, " **We'll call him Quicks.** " the mother said. Her mate couldn't argue. Once they calmed Quicks down, they put him with his sisters, and the mother refocused on the next egg. The other baby was a green male, and then she noticed that his face and body were covered in spots.

" **This one will be called Speckles.** " she said. The mother and father never wanted to let any of their four young ones out of their sight because of all the dangers that were lurking, waiting to take the lives of young dinosaurs. Their mother and her mate had had children before, but back then, their combined lack of experience in parenting along with their children's arrogance and overconfidence about themselves ended up costing all the kids their lives.

But not this time. She and her mate made sure that they kept the children well taken care of. She decided that they needed food, so she went out to hunt while her mate stayed back with the kids. By this age, both she and her mate had had plenty of experience about hunting. First, she needed to find something to hunt. A dinosaur straggling behind in a herd, a weak dinosaur separated from the rest of their group, or a dead dinosaur that had not yet been eaten by anything else.

She spotted a medium-sized herd of Torosauruses grazing through the forest. Her green-colored skin gave her a slight camouflage from the herbivores. The next most important rule of the hunt, you must be extremely patient when stalking your prey and selecting a target. The carnivore thought about the troubles of trying to kill a Torosaurus, with horns over three feet in length.

Two males were head butting each other in competition for the females and the young ones. The Tarbo waited and waited, but at the moment, there weren't very many easy targets for her to choose. Eventually, though, one of the females started wandering off. Now she had her target. She walked a good distance behind the dino because of her loud footsteps. The Toro seemed to be heading towards the nearby lake.

In fact it was. It stopped at the edge of the lake to quench its thirst. Then, she struck like thunder. She grabbed the Toro by its neck. The Toro tried its hardest to try to escape the deadly grasp of the Tarbo's jaws, but she was simply too strong. At first, she was going to break its neck, but then she got a better idea. She pulled the Toro into the lake, and then she forced its head under the water.

Now the Toro really started struggling. It was trying so hard to get even a gasp of air, but the carnivore just kept its head underneath. Eventually, the Toro stopped struggling, and the Tarbo gave the classic victory roar. After she was done, she feasted on the corpse for a while. After she was finished, she now had to get some of the meat back to her children.

However, she had some competition for the rest of the food. A pack of four _Velociraptors_ showed up to finish it off. She gave a loud roar, and the Raptors backed off. But then they came back and started hissing at her. She was not intimidated by any of them. One tried to sneakily take a piece of flesh off the corpse while the others diverted her attention to them, but she saw the Raptor behind her, she grabbed it, and then threw it into a tree. Only now did the Raptors run away.

She went back to getting the meat. She ate a whopping 771 pounds of meat off the Toro, and then she was finished. She headed back to the nest.

Back at the nest, Scarlet and Rose were play fighting, Quicks was busy chasing a dragonfly, and Speckles was looking over the forest. Quicks was getting a little far from the nest, and his father warned him not to leave the nest at his young age. Then, the mother came back with a big chunk of meat for her mate, and for the children…she regurgitated 40 pounds of meat for them. As disgusting as that sounds, it was their version of baby food.

 _2 years later:_

For the past 2 years, Speckles and his brother and sisters were continuously being nurtured, and they were growing up well. For most of their lives since they hatched, they all were heavily supervised by their parents, but now their teeth were starting to become sharp enough to pierce flesh, so no more baby food. Along with their teeth growing into their heads, overconfidence about their capabilities started filling the young dinos' minds as well.

Every time Quicks and the sisters saw an herbivore, they started thinking that whatever the herbivore was, it would be an easy target, and they all thought that they could take whatever it was down, even at their small sizes, but Speckles was much more neutral. Their parents kept telling them repeatedly that they would get themselves killed if they tried, but Speckles was the only one who seemed to want to listen.

One day, while the whole family was going on a casual stroll through the woods, Quicks spotted a young Haenamichnuses, and he smelled its blood, " **Its hurt. It can't fly away if I attack** **.** " he thought. He looked back at his parents, who were looked ahead, and he darted off towards the injured flyer. He hid in the bushes, but not for long. Quicks saw it started to walk back towards its herd, and he went for it.

He grabbed onto its neck, but he didn't know how to break it, so he just bit down and held it. The Pteranodon gave a weak cry for help, and its mother heard it. She flew over, and when Quicks saw her, he released the young flyer from his jaw, and he started to run. The mother took flight, and she was much faster than Quicks. Now Quicks was the one who was calling for help, and his parents looked and saw his problem.

They both rushed over to help him, but the flyer picked him up. She started lifting him higher and higher. Then she dropped him. Their mother gave a roar in dismay, while their father gave a roar in anger. Their dad went to kill the Pteranodon, while they and their mother went after Quicks. When the Haenamichnus dropped Quicks, she flew back down to her injured offspring.

He stalked the flyer, and he waited for an opportunity due to the fact that he was stuck to the ground, and she could just flip, flap, and fly. Then, she flew back into the dense forest to retrieve some plants to help heal her young one's injury. He followed her into the forest, while making sure she couldn't see him. She landed on the ground, and she saw a plant that resembled a modern-day Aloe Vera.

When she went towards it, he struck. He grabbed her by the neck, and she started struggling. Needless to say, the male Tarbo easily claimed victory over the much smaller Haenamichnus. It was dead within about 10 seconds. He put his foot on top of the carcass, and he gave a victory roar.

Quicks continued crying for help as he fell. The mother and the rest of her young followed Quicks path. As he as getting close to the ground, he hit a branch. And then he hit another. And then another. Quicks hit almost every single branch of every single tree on the way down. Eventually his mother caught him on her head.

She lowered down to place him on the ground, " **You are not old enough to hunt on your own, and you and your sisters need to learn how to do it properly. That's why we have you watch us. If you try to make a kill at this age and we're not around, things like that could happen. You almost got yourself killed, Quicks.** " she said to her son. Quicks got the message, and he went back with Speckles and his sisters.

Their dad came back, Pteranodon in mouth, and he placed it down and started tearing flesh from it. All of them, except for Speckles, did the same. Speckles and his mother continued their walk through the woods while the others ate. Mom looked at Speckles, " **Speckles, we need to talk.** " she said. Speckles looked at her, " **About what? Did I do something wrong?** " he asked back.

She shook her head, " **No, no. You haven't done anything wrong, and that's what's odd. You seem to keep yourself separate from Quicks, Rose and Scarlet. Why?** " she said. Speckles thought about that, " **I don't really choose to separate myself from them. Scarlet and Rose like to play with each other, but they never invite me. I don't care, but it would be nice. Not only that, but Quicks usually ignores me altogether, unless I bite him in the snout. But being separated from them doesn't really bother me much.** " he answered.

His mom looked slightly surprised at that, " **Okay. Another thing, whenever they try to take down an herbivore, they try to go for it, but you don't. Why don't you join in with what they try to do? I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but I'm just wondering.** " she said. Speckles never thought that no joining in with what his brother and sisters was something to wonder about, " **Well, when you tell us that we aren't able to hunt on our own yet, I know that you and dad have had much more experience hunting than any of us, so I respect that.** " he said.

She was slightly surprised by that. By now, the others had finished eating, they caught up with them, and the conversation between Speckles and his mother was ended, " **It's getting dark. It's about time we head back to the nest.** " she said. Quicks, Scarlet, and Rose all agreed with her. They turned around and they started walking home, only now their parents were on both sides of them. They were not going to take the risk of having a repeat of what happened to Quicks happen to any of their other kids.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: 'Till Death Do We Part**

 _3 years later:_

Now, Quicks, Speckles, Scarlet, and Rose had all turned 5 years old, and now they were beginning to get their own meals. They could only take down much smaller prey, and usually, Quicks and his sisters worked together, but then Quicks took the prize all for himself, and then Scarlet & Rose had to kill something else to satisfy their hunger. Speckles, on the other hand, chose not to hunt for his food. He wanted to continue watching Mom hunt because he knew that he was still quite young, and he didn't exactly feel that he was able to kill anything at the moment, apart from some bugs, which were not very satisfying to his ever-growing hunger.

By this age, all of the kids' meals needed to be a little bigger than when they were 2, but they still needed a big enough meal for them to get the energy they needed for the rest of the day, and every single day after that. While the others hunted on their own, and they were successful for the most part, Speckles was paying attention to every piece of wisdom that Mom was giving him, and he continued to watch how she hunted to different scenarios.

She was fully aware of Speckles' wanting of knowledge of how to survive in the world, and she was glad. She knew that one day Speckles would have to leave them and go out in the world to survive all on his own, " **Speckles, son, for a while now, I've noticed that you are not wanting to hunt for your food, unlike your siblings. Why do you insist on doing the opposite of everything that they do?** " she asked him while walking through the woods with him, in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm.

He looked up to her, " **Oh. I just don't feel that I will be able to make a successful kill all by myself. None of them want to hunt with me. Hey, they barely even want to be near me when they go into these woods. I don't know why they're like that. They've been doing it for 3 years, and at first, I could tolerate it, but now it's just starting to get annoying that they keep ignoring me. If it weren't for you caring about me and giving me knowledge of the world, I probably would have done something to them that I would've immediately regretted. I really don't know what I would do without you.** " he said.

She stopped walking and lowered her head to him, and she nuzzled him, " **One thing I know for sure is that not Quicks, nor Rose or Scarlet would admit that. You're the kind of hatchling that no parent would ever want to release into the world. I'm not going anywhere, Speckles.** " she said to him. Speckles felt good, but then they heard Quicks roaring after a rumble of thunder.

They both looked at each other, and Mom followed Quicks' scent. Speckles went to follow her, but she stopped him, " **No, Speckles. I have a bad feeling about this. You stay here, I'll be right back. If you feel unsafe, climb up on top of those rocks and call to your father. Okay?** " she said. As much as Speckles wanted to go with, he knew that she was right, so he nodded and stayed put while she went towards her other son.

Speckles got up on the rocks only because he wanted to see what was happening with his siblings, but the trees didn't make it very easy, and he hadn't learned how to make his eyes adjust to the darkness, basically allowing him to have night vision. He saw his mother disappear into the trees each time there was a flash of lightning, and then he got concerned about what might happen, but he pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind. He waited, and he waited. He was continuously tempted to follow where she went, but that was against what he had learned from her, and against what she had told him to do, so he didn't go after her…for the moment.

He kept resisting the temptation to follow, but then he heard Mom roar in pain, Speckles immediately forgot all about what she had told him only a short while ago, and he sprinted in the direction she had gone. Little did he know that following his Mom's path was going to change his life forever. When he reached the end of the thick forest, he stopped and, during a flash of lightning, he could see a stampede of hundreds of herbivores, and he also saw his mother running against them. Then he saw Quicks and his sisters running through, trying their hardest not to get stepped on, and Dad was a good distance behind, trying to get to them, " **What have they done this time?** " Speckles thought.

He didn't have any time to wonder before he briefly caught a glimpse that the stampede was now passing right by a cliff, and each and everyone in his family was in different parts of it that were all right alongside the cliff, " **Oh no.** " Speckles said to himself, having a terrible feeling. Then, the storm seemed to worsen. The rain got heavier, the flashes of lightning started becoming more frequent and more prolonged.

When the rain went from moderate to a downpour, the dirt where Speckles was standing started getting very muddy, and he got on top of a log as the mud started running down into the nearby river. He was tempted to go into the stampede to try to get his siblings out, but the cliff and the possibility of getting crushed kept him from going in. Eventually, he saw that Quicks and his sisters had made it out and they saw him though lighting flashes, and they stood on the same log as him, but their parents weren't behind them, they were still stuck in the stampede.

" **Mom!** ", " **Dad!** " Quicks and Speckles yelled. They both heard them, and Dad looked in their direction. He was right next to the cliff, and the ground was becoming very muddy, and herbivores started falling off the side. An Ankylosaurus slipped and was sliding towards Dad, but he pushed it away before it knocked him off. All the kids were worried about their parents, but Speckles was terrified of one thought that he couldn't push aside, " **What if Mom falls?** " he kept thinking.

Dad was fighting his way through the herbivores, but he wasn't getting much closer to his children. Then, in the trees, Speckles saw out of the corner of his eye a Tyrannosaurus Rex watching the stampede, as well. Dad was almost to the edge of the massive stampede, but then he slipped and fell down, but he was now sliding backward, towards the edge.

He tried to get up, but he kept getting knocked down by herbivores jumping over and then accidentally kicking him back down. He was getting too close to the edge, and all the kids were watching in horror. Then, their dad was on the edge, his feet hanging over, but he managed to cling onto a rock that went deep into the ground. Quicks, Rose, and Scarlet gave a cry for joy, but Speckles didn't.

He saw something that his siblings did not, a Torosaurus who had also slipped and fell, and it was sliding towards the father, " **Guys, look!** " Speckles said to them. They all stopped and looked where he was, and then their eyes all opened wide, " **Oh no! Dad!** " Quicks yelled. Dad heard him, but he couldn't find anything sturdy to put his feet on, and he saw the Toro, now rolling and tumbling uncontrollably towards him.

He looked to his kids, and only Speckles recognized the look in his father's eyes. Helplessness. He knew what was going to happen, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Speckles knew, but he didn't have the heart to warn his siblings. They all watched as the Toro rolled into the rock, then it rolled right over the rock, it hit their father, and then pushed him over the edge, " **DAD!** " they all yelled.

They heard their father roaring as he fell down to the bottom with the Torosaur. They all got misty-eyed, but then they heard their mother fighting her way through to her children, " **Mom! You can make it!** " Scarlet yelled. Mom was doing well at getting through the herbivores and at getting back to her children. But, something happened. She started slipping, but she was doing well at stabilizing herself, until an Ankylosaur was shoved by a Parasaurolophus, and the Anky fell over, hit another Parasaur in the face with its tail, which then a Trike jumped and then tripped over the Anky, and then another Anky tried to get past the cuddle puddle of herbivores, only to slip and hit their mother in the face with its tail.

She was staggering, but she wasn't close to the edge, so none of them were concerned, not even Speckles. That is, until a Trike shoved into her, moving her aside, not actually harming her with its horns, but pushing her closer to the cliffs. They all saw this happen, and their joy was instantaneously replaced with absolutely nothing but sheer terror, " **Mom! No!** " Speckles yelled. She heard him, but she was still dazed. She was right alongside the cliff, and she was still staggering.

One foot was so close, but then she balanced herself out, and her vision came back. She started to run back towards her children. But then, the moment she took one step towards her babies, the unthinkable happened. The piece of rock that she was standing on…gave way, and she fell down, too. When Speckles saw his mother, the only one who truly ever cared about him and vice-versa, disappear under the flash of lightning, he was devastated. Then, the last of the herbivores ran past, and then Speckles immediately sprinted over to where his mother last was, " **NO!** " he screamed, briefly seeing his mother disappear into the fog that had developed at the bottom of the cliff.

Then, there was the faint sound of a thud at the bottom. Speckles broke into tears, " **Mom…** ( _Sniffles_ ) **Mom.** " he said. Quicks and their sisters came over, " **Now what do we do? We are too young to live on our own.** " Speckles said. Quicks and his sisters disagreed, " **No we're not. We all know how to hunt our own food. That's all we need to know how to do, Speckles.** " Quicks said.

To Speckles, Quicks didn't sound sad at the loss of their parents, he sounded like he was glad they were gone, but Quicks was sad, as were Scarlet and Rose, " **No, you don't. Dad did all of your hunting for you, nuzzled you, and then told all of you that you made the kill, not him, and you've always believed him.** " Speckles said. His siblings looked at him with shock that he'd say such a thing.

Then, Speckles saw a thin sort of path down the side of the cliff, and he started carefully walking down it. Quicks, Rose, and Scarlet all looked at each other, " **Should we follow him down there?** " Rose asked. Quicks was thinking, " **I don't know. My heart says no, but something else tells me that we should follow Speckles. It doesn't matter what he said. I don't think he knows what he's talking about.** " he replied.

Speckles heard this clearly, but he kept silent and continued walking down. Eventually, they all decided that they might as well follow him since they knew four heads would be better than three. Speckles and his siblings descended down the cliffside into the foggy land below. It was still raining, but they were on rocks that weren't moving at all in the rain, but it was still a little slippery, and none of them knew how far up they still were, so they were all extremely careful, as they didn't want to share the same fate as their parents just did.

After a while, they finally reached the bottom. Upon arriving down here, Speckles did not know why he chose to come down here. But when he heard the sound of an adult Tarbosaurus barely breathing, his heart soared. For the past three years, Speckles had been taught by Mom how to use his nose to sniff out prey, and how to use his hearing. He used his nose, and he picked up his mother's scent. She or her body was somewhere nearby.

He followed the scent, and his siblings only followed him because Dad never taught them how to use their noses or ears. Speckles was following the scent, and he came across a black Tarbosaurus that had a stalagmite through its torso, " **Dad.** " Speckles began to say before he heard a Tarbo growl. He kept going, and he eventually came across a tan Tarbosaurus, " **Mom. Are you alive?** " he said, sniffing the body.

The Tarbo moved and looked at him. Mom still had life, but she was barely hanging on to it, " **Speckles…come here.** " she said weakly. Speckles moved so she could see him, " **You're alive! Get up. Please.** " Speckles said. She looked at him, " **I'm…not sure I can, Speckles.** " she said. She tried to stand up, but there was a stalagmite stuck in her leg, and she fell back over. Speckles got closer, and she looked at him again, " **My dear son, Speckles. You must leave me here. I don't have much time left, but you need to know this. There is a place out there called the Great Valley. It is full of herbivores. You, your brother, and your sisters must make it there if you want to survive. Food will be plentiful for you there.** " she said.

Then Quicks came over, " **But, Mom, how can we make it there?** " he asked her. She looked over to him, " **Follow the direction of where the sun sets. Speckles…you will have to lead your siblings there. For I have given much of my knowledge of how to survive on your own. You have the power to make it there alive, I know you do. Scarlet, Rose, Quicks, you must pay attention to Speckles and do what he says. For he has my wisdom, and you do not. Without him, you will surely die** **.** " she told him.

Quicks knew she was right, but he didn't want to listen to his younger brother, " **But, how will we know when we get there? How do we prevent ourselves from getting lost?** " he queried. " **You will know you have made it there when you see a giant rock that looks like an Apatosaur. It is known as Saurus Rock.** ( _Turns back to_ Speckles) **As long as you are leading and they're listening to you, Speckles, your siblings will not get lost. This I do know.** **Speckles** **,** **you and your siblings' only chance of surviving long enough to get to the Valley is now in your claws. Take care…of…yourself…** " she said.

Then she laid her head back down, closed her eyes, and then her head went limp. Her scent immediately changed, and Speckles didn't want to believe it at all, " **Mom? No. No, no, no! Mom! No!** " he said, nudging her head. When there was no movement of her body, Speckles knew what had just happened, but he still did not want to believe it, but he had to face the facts. His mother…was dead along with his father. And now he was the only chance at getting him and his relatives to the Great Valley, " **Okay.** ( _Walks over to Speckles_ ) **Where do you want us to go?** " Quicks asked.

Speckles suddenly felt the weight of being like a parental figure, and he knew that if it was absolutely imperative for the sake of their survival, his siblings would listen to everything he had to say, and everything that he would tell them to do. He looked Quicks in the eyes, " **We follow where the sun sets until we reach this Saurus Rock and this Great Valley** **.** " Speckles decided. He walked back up the path, and his siblings followed him.

When they got back up to the top, Speckles, who was still heavily mourning the loss of his beloved mother, saw that same T-Rex again, wandering around the area where many herbivores died and sort of made a pile of bodies. Speckles now recognized it by the color of its skin, and other miscellaneous details, " **Left eye gouged out. That's One-Eye. Guys, avoid One-Eye. If he finds out that our parents are dead, he'll take over our territory and kill us** **.** " Speckles said. He turned back towards the forest. His siblings followed.

The storm was still happening, only the lightning and thunder were becoming less and less frequent, and the rain was getting lighter. On any other day, Speckles absolutely loved the rain more than anybody else, but today was not an ordinary day for any of them. Nothing ordinary at all. Speckles had his head hung slightly, and Quicks noticed this, " **Are you alright?** " he asked. Speckles looked over at him, " **What do you think? I just watched both of my parents die while I was completely helpless to do anything.** " he replied.

" **Okay, okay. I know that. We were all helpless, too** **.** **How do you think we feel?** " Quicks said. Speckles gave him no answer. He continued walking through the woods, going west towards the Great Valley. Speckles knew that Mom knew what she was talking about, but Speckles was doubtful, " **I hope Mom is right about this place.** " Speckles said to himself.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: All Alone**

So far, they had been heading west for about 5 days, and Quicks and his sisters had been talking about Mom's dying wish that Speckles was to lead them to the Great Valley, " **Can you believe this? Our little brother being able to tell all of us what to do? We're older. Why didn't she let us lead?** " Quicks said quietly to his sisters. Speckles heard this, and he looked back at them, " **Mom's not saying you have to follow my lead, she's dead. You can just wander off and go east, or north, or wherever you want to go** **.** **If you don't like me being the boss of you, you can also just kill me…if you knew how to do it. But if you kill me** **,** **then you'll have no guidance to get you to the Great Valley, to help you survive the weather, help you avoid predators, and no one to be able to teach you how to properly hunt your prey. You'll all either get picked off by larger predators, you'll die of starvation, or you won't, but you'll kill each other for food. Would you rather have me lead you? Or would you rather get rid of me and die on your own?** " he said.

They all looked at each other for a minute, and then back to Speckles, " **(** _ **Sighs**_ **) Lead on, Speckles.** " Quicks said. Speckles gave a snort, " **I thought so.** " he said, looking back ahead. Another 2 days passed. By now, his siblings started complaining about hunger and thirst, " **Okay, Speckles. If you know how to hunt, how do we do it?** " Quicks said. Speckles looked back at him, " **What do you want to hunt?** " he asked back.

Quicks looked ahead of him, and he saw a juvenile Parasaurolophus that seemed lost, " **That Parasaur.** " he answered. Speckles looked and saw it, " **Okay, then. Now, watch closely to how I do this** **.** " he said. They crouched in some bushes as Speckles went towards the dino. They watched as he stalked the creature by also hiding in bushes, but moving around the Parasaur so it would be harder for it to pinpoint exactly where Speckles was. They took note of how Speckles was extremely patient, waiting for the right opportunity to attack his prey.

His green skin made him almost invisible in the foliage, and the Parasaur walked right over to the bush he had stopped in. Then, he grabbed it by the neck, dragged it into the bush. Speckles quickly realized that his siblings couldn't see what he was doing if they couldn't see him. So he came back out of the bush with the Parasaur. The Parasaur had no idea how to even prepare for this situation, and Speckles broke its neck in under 30 seconds. Then he grabbed it and dragged it over to his siblings, " **That was an easy target. As we grow older, easier targets will not be large enough of meals for us anymore, and we'll need to hunt bigger game. You understand that?** " Speckles said. They all nodded and started walking toward the carcass.

Speckles stepped in front of them, " **What do you think you're doing?** " he asked. They looked at him, " **We're going to eat.** " Quicks replied. Speckles bared his teeth and snarled, " **No, you aren't. We're in a pack, and in a pack such as this, the alpha, or the leader, gets to eat first. Seeing as how I'm leading you all, and I know how to survive on my own, that makes me the alpha. No one can eat at the same time as the alpha, unless it's their mate or they allow another to eat with** **.** **You all have to wait until I'm done eating before any of you can even touch it** **.** **Get back!** "

They all backed away, and then Speckles started tearing off pieces of flesh. As much as they all hated him enforcing his power over them, they knew that Speckles was the one thing that they needed if they wanted to survive, so they waited until he was done. When he was full, he had eaten a quarter of the meat, and he also ate the heart and lungs. His siblings looked at the carcass, and all the blood and internal organs, all dead, was disgusting to them, for Dad had always torn off flesh for them, and they were never fed organs. They weren't used to seeing this level of gore, " **Are you not hungry?** " Speckles queried, licking the blood off his lips.

Quicks looked at him, " **No, we're starving. It's just…** " he said. Speckles waited, " **Just what?** " he asked. Quicks was thinking of how to describe it to him, " **It's just the…body. It looks disgusting.** " Quicks finally said. Speckles cocked his head, " **Oh? You'd better start getting used to it. If you can't get over the look of a dead body, you'll starve to death. This is how every carnivore eats. You eat the body, you eat every little piece of meat you can until you get full, or there is none left** **.** **In the world, this is how all bodies will look. Either you adapt, or you die. Your choice.** " he said.

Quicks didn't like the sound of dying. No one does. So he and his sisters started—hesitantly—tearing off pieces of flesh and eating. By the time they were done, there was still a good 50 pounds of meat left, but they were all satisfied. The sun started to set ahead of them, " **It's about time that you all go get some rest. Go sleep underneath that tree. It's safe and covered. I'll get breakfast ready for tomorrow.** " Speckles said. His sibling went under the tree he directed them towards, and they all laid down and closed their eyes, " **Sweet dreams.** " Speckles thought.

He also laid down and went to sleep, but he woke himself up early in the morning. While his brethren continued resting, he went out to get his…their breakfast. He walked through the forest, searching. After a while, the signs of sunrise were starting to appear. Speckles looked at the sky for a short while, and then he resumed searching for food. Then he spotted a T-Rex in the distance that was engaged in a fight with a Pachyrhinosaurus.

Speckles got closer, " **One of them is going to die, and when the other leaves the area I'll snag some food for myself…and for them, don't forget.** " Speckles said to himself. He watched the fight while keeping himself concealed from both dinosaurs. The Pachyrhino was already cut and injured, but the Rex was sidestepping around the Pachyrhinosaur. The Pachyrhino started charging at the Rex, but the Rex was prepared for this.

It grabbed the Pachyrhino's neck, threw it to the ground, and then made the kill. It put its foot on the carcass and gave a roar. Speckles recognized the signs of hunger on any other dinosaur, and the T-Rex wasn't showing any. In fact, it wasn't hungry, but it tore off a piece of flesh and walked away with it. Speckles waited until the Rex was completely gone, and then he went for the body. He tore off some flesh, and he didn't even chew it, he just swallowed it whole.

" **Mmm. Mom always said that Pachyrhinosaur meat tasted good, and she is…was…not wrong.** " Speckles thought. He paused eating and looked back up at the night sky, " **I miss you.** " Speckles said out loud. He resumed eating. After a while, a pack of Velociraptors showed up and started hissing at Speckles. Mom had always warned him that if he didn't challenge a Velociraptor over food, it wouldn't attack him. So he quickly grabbed a large piece of flesh and went back to his brother and sisters. The Velociraptors feasted on the rest of the corpse.

When he got back to his siblings, they were still asleep, and he placed the meat near them. He laid back down, but he didn't go back to sleep. He just waited for his siblings to wake up. Eventually, they did, and they saw the meat, but they paused, " **Have you eaten already?** " Scarlet asked. Speckles got up, " **Yes.** " he said. They all ran at the meat and started feasting on it after he said that.

The meat was gone quickly because this was what Quicks, Rose, and Scarlet were used to seeing, and they were famished. When they were done, Speckles continued walking west, and his siblings followed. They ventured west for 5 more weeks, with Speckles leading strong. During these 5 weeks, Speckles had made many successful kills for them. He knew that in a pack, the alpha was not to be doing all the hunting, but seeing as how his siblings still didn't know how to make a kill yet, he had to make an exception.

But today, after he made his kill, he announced something to his siblings, " **Okay. No food for any of you.** " Their eyes all opened wide, " **Wait, what?! Why can't we have any food?!** " Quicks said. " **Calm down! You're still going to get food, but not as much. It's about time that you learn how to hunt down your own food, because I'm tired of hunting down meals for you. I'll assist you with the first few kills, but after that** **,** **you'll have to do it on your own, or starve to death.** " Speckles answered.

Quicks and his sisters were ever-so-slightly relieved to know that they still would get food, but their relief was quickly replaced with concern, " **Hunt? We don't a thing about hunting!** " Quicks admitted. Speckles made him calm down, " **As I said, with your first few hunts I will be assisting you. But you'd all better be fast learners or you're going to die of starvation.** " he said again.

Speckles gave them a few small scraps to eat, and then their hunting lessons began. He led them out of the forest and into an open plain with a creek nearby that came out of the forest. Speckles realized that his siblings must be parched, " **You may drink from that creek** **.** " he told them. They all walked towards the creek and started drinking. Speckles also walked over to the creek to take a drink, too. He could hear that all his siblings were drinking a lot, " **Good thing this creek was here. The might've died from dehydration without my knowledge.** " Speckles thought.

He didn't need to drink as much as his brother and sisters, but when he was done, he looked at his reflection in the water. When he looked, he saw his mother looking back at him, " **I'm a leader. Just like she was.** " Speckles thought. He waited for his siblings to finish. After what felt like 20 minutes, they finally were done, " **Wow. How thirsty were you all?** " he asked. They all looked at him, " **We almost died from a lack of water. What do you think?** " Quicks said. " **Dehydration.** " Speckles corrected him.

Their conversation was interrupted by another dinosaur nearby. Speckles turned around, and there were some Pachycephlosauruses drinking farther down the creek, " **You see those Pachys down there?** " Speckles asked his siblings as they started walking toward the herd. They all nodded, and Speckles went on, " **Okay. Quicks, you go first. The easiest way to kill any creature is by breaking their neck. These Pachys are slightly harder than a Parasaur, and they'll put up more of a fight. If you want to have the highest chance of killing them quickly, you must be subtle and sneaky. If they see you, don't let them hit you with their head. They'll break your ribs if they get into a full sprint. Before you start running, I'd recommend curling your toes right before you start.** " Speckles explained to his brother.

Quicks pictured everything Speckles explained as he was explaining it in his head, and he got the idea, " **Let me tell you all something. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is successful on their first hunt.** **So you'll all fail, but then you'll learn from your mistakes for the next time.** " Speckles added. Quicks looked at him, " **No. There have to be some…never mind. What if I am successful on my first hunt?** " Quicks said. Speckles gave a snort, " **You won't be. Only a few dinosaurs in all time have been successful on their first hunt. None of you will be successful. I know this to be a fact.** " he said.

Quicks gave up arguing with his younger brother. Speckles stood next to him, but he was readying Quicks, " **Ready? Steady. And…go!** " Speckles said. Quicks wasn't quite ready, but he still did go. " **He must not know the meaning of the word sneaky or subtle. You don't sprint directly toward your prey without waiting for the right opportunity to attack. This is how he fails.** " Speckles thought.

Quicks lived up to his name when it came to sprinting. Unfortunately, an adult Pachy spotted him coming, and it alerted the rest of the herd. The Pachy that Quicks was after was still drinking, and it didn't quite react in time, and Quicks actually got his jaw around the Pachy's neck. However, when watching Speckles make a kill, neither Quicks, nor his sisters knew how to break a creature's neck, so he was just holding it by its neck. In the end, the Pachy managed to free itself from Quicks' grip, and it started running toward its herd.

Quicks chased after it, but the Pachys were just a little faster than him, and they slowly started pulling away. Quick then ran as fast as he physically could, and he started gaining on the Pachys very slowly. However, the Pachy he was after jumped over a log and kicked some dirt into Quicks' eyes. He kept running while trying to clear his eyes, and he tripped over the log.

Needless to say, all the Pachys escaped. Except for one grown adult male that was away from the herd when Quicks scared them. It saw Quicks, who was still trying to clear his eyes of the dirt, it lowered its head, and after a few seconds he started running at Quicks. Quicks was really struggling to get all the dirt out of his eyes, and he didn't see the Pachy. Speckles did, and he kept looking back between his brother, and the approaching Pachy.

Then, the Pachy was really close, and Speckles realized that Quicks wasn't going to get out of the way in time. Now he ran to his brother. The Pachy didn't see him, but it was getting really close to his brother, " **Quicks!** " Speckles yelled, diving at his brother, pushing him out of the way. Then, Speckles got back onto his feet and stepped aside. The Pachy was completely unaware that there was nothing but a log in front of him.

As it ran by and smashed into and then through the log, Speckles bit its leg, and he had a strong grip. The Pachy was stopped, and, even though it was running quite quickly and it was larger in size then Speckles, Speckles wasn't even pulled by the Pachy. He bit harder into its leg, disabling it. He walked over to its neck and grabbed it, but then he looked over to his siblings. He thought that maybe one of them should make the final kill, but then he remembered that he was the alpha, and the alpha of a pack doesn't do all the work and then let another pack member make the final kill.

He broke the Pachy's neck, and he looked at his brother, who had finally gotten the last of the dirt out of his eyes, " **Quicks, no food for you tonight.** " he said. Quicks looked at him wide-eyed, " **What?** **Why?** " he questioned. Speckles looked back at the corpse to his left, Quicks' right, " **You failed to successfully make a kill. I'm not going to just let you eat something you didn't kill. That's not how it works.** " he said. Quicks remembered what Speckles had told him before.

Then, Speckles took some bites out of the corpse. Once he was full, he went over to his sisters while he made Quicks stand guard of the corpse, just in case. Quicks was very tempted to take a few bites from it, but he knew that somehow Speckles would notice and then punish him, so he kept resisting the temptation.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Hunt Or Be Hunted**

Speckles was thinking about letting his sisters hunt separately, but then he remembered that Mom and Dad used to hunt together, and he knew that his sisters might've had a better chance of being successful in making a kill, " **Would you two rather hunt together, or would you prefer to hunt separately?** " Speckles asked his sisters. They looked at each other, " **If you hunt together, there's a better chance of you making a successful kill.** " Speckles added.

Rose and Scarlet thought about it, but the thought of food made it simple for them to decide, " **We'll hunt together.** " Rose said. Speckles smiled, " **Okay.** ( _Looks around for other prey_ ) **Um…ooh! I see a Velociraptor. Would you like to hunt that?** " he asked them. Both of them turned around to see a lone Velociraptor, wounded and battered, wandering around. The twins looked at each other again. They knew that Velociraptors were very dangerous to their lives, only because they were very young and small, but this one was very near to death, so they figured, why not?

" **Yes, we can hunt that. How do we hunt prey when there are two of us?** " Scarlet asked. " **There are two different ways to do it. The first way you can do it is one of you will act as a distraction and get your prey to focus their attention on you, while the other moves in for the kill. The other way you can do it is that one of you will chase the target, and the other is hiding somewhere, preferably some form of foliage** **.** **The chaser will lead the prey towards the other. And then when the prey is close enough, the one who is hiding will ambush the target** **.** **I know it wouldn't normally work with a Velociraptor, but it might work this time because this Velociraptor is wounded. Which method do you want to go with?** " Speckles explained.

They both looked at each other again, and they went with the distraction method. Well, technically Scarlet did. Rose hadn't decided when, " **We'll go with the distraction.** " Scarlet said to her brother. Rose looked at her sister, " **We are?** " she asked quietly. Scarlet gave her a sideways glare, " **Okay, we are.** " she said. Speckles was looking at the Raptor, but he glanced back at his sisters because he sensed their disagreement, " **Something wrong, Rose?** " he asked.

She looked at him in a way that told him he should talk to her at another time, " **Okay, which one of you can run the fastest?** " Speckles asked them both. Scarlet stepped forward, " **Me. So, if I recall what you said correctly, that means that you want me to distract the Velociraptor so Rose can sneak up and make the kill?** " she said. Speckles nodded, " **Okay. I can do that, but what if it starts chasing me?** " she said.

Speckles had a plan in case that happened, " **If it chases you, run as fast as you can and lead it toward Rose. And when you get it close enough to her, try to get it to get its head down so she can grab ahold of its neck. If you are not able to kill it because it might not be as wounded as it looks and acts, I'll help you** **.** "Speckles said. His sisters prepared themselves. Although Rose seemed very, very nervous, she pushed this nervousness aside and prepared herself. Speckles knew that they'd most likely be successful.

The Raptor walked over to some bushes, sticking its head in them, looking for any scraps left behind by another predator, " **Now! Go!** " Speckles said quietly. Scarlet started running to the Raptor while Rose hid in some thick bushes. Rose ran up and stood behind the Raptor to see if it'd even notice her. It didn't. Then, she tried to snarl, but she didn't know how. She eventually just bit the Raptor on the back of the leg. That definitely got its attention.

It growled in pain, then turned around and looked at her. She prepared herself in case it tried to chase her. Good thing she did. It roared and ran at her. It tried to swipe her with its claws, but she jumped and it missed before she turned around and ran towards her sister. The Raptor gave chase, " **Rose!** " Scarlet yelled. The Raptor paused and looked around, as it understood her and thought she called for help. It saw nothing and resumed chasing.

Speckles was preparing himself just in case things got ugly, " **Can't be too careful** **.** " he thought. Scarlet was getting closer to Rose, who was readying herself to bite onto the Raptor's neck. She looked to Speckles, and he looked at her. He read her expression, and he thrashed his head like he was holding onto prey's neck and breaking it. Rose nodded and refocused on the real prey.

Scarlet ran past the bush, and by now the Raptor was slowing down a little because it was wounded and severely hungry, but it wasn't giving up on an opportunity for food. It was about to pass the bush, and then Rose grabbed onto its neck. The Raptor was not expecting this, but it reacted quickly, grabbing Rose with its hands and throwing her off. Scarlet stopped running when Rose had grabbed on, but she got braver when she saw the Raptor throw her sister off, " **Rose!** ( _Raptor looks at her_ ) **No one does that to my sister!** " Scarlet said.

She ran at the Raptor and bit its leg a few more times. It tried to hit her with its claws again, but she moved out of the way and it missed. Scarlet kept dodging the Raptor's attempts to cut her while Rose regained her bearings and got back up. She saw what her sister was doing and she looked at Speckles. He looked at her, and he gave her a gesture towards the Raptor. She understood, ran at the Raptor while its back was facing her, and she jumped as high as she could.

She landed on the Raptor's back and bit onto its neck again. The Raptor roared in pain again, and it tried to throw her off again, but this time Rose held on tightly. She remembered how Speckles thrashed his head, and she did the same a few times. While she was working on breaking the Raptor's neck, Scarlet was down below biting its legs continuously. Speckles was impressed with their teamwork and strategy.

Eventually, Scarlet bit the Raptor's leg one more time, and it fell to the ground. That made it a little easier for Rose to try and break its neck. The Raptor was trying to free itself from Rose's grip on it, but she wasn't letting go anytime soon. Then, Scarlet started to walk to the other side of the Raptor's neck, but then it swiped at her hit her and cut her across the entire left side of her body. If the Raptor was able to cut 2 inches deeper, that would've been a fatal wound.

She was knocked off her feet and pushed back a few inches. Rose thrashed her head like Speckles had demoed, and the Raptor stopped fighting. Rose released the Raptor's neck, and she took a couple steps back in admirance of what she had just accomplished, " **Wow. That was excellent, Rose. You and Scarlet definitely deserve that food.** ( _Gasps_ ) **Scarlet!** " Speckles said. He went over to his other sister and inspected her injury. She was bleeding, but not at a life-threatening level.

Quicks also came over, " **Is she going to die?** " he asked. " **No. She'll live, but we need to find some Veriforman to cover her cuts with. This needs to be done quickly. If we rub it on the cuts, it will sting a little, but Veriforman has a waxy, almost slime-like coating on it that'll get into her bloodstream and accelerate her skin regeneration, and it'll also prevent her cuts from getting infected** **.** " Speckles said. Quicks & Rose gave a sigh of relief.

Then, Quicks wondered, " **Veriforman? You mean the giant, slippery leaves?** " he asked. Speckles looked at him and nodded, " **Yes, it is. How did you know that?** " he asked. " **Dad used some on me 2 years ago after I got into a fight with a Therizinosaurus about my age.** " Quicks replied. Speckles remembered that day, " **Okay. There is some Veriforman in those woods. You and Rose will look for some while I watch Scarlet.** " he told his brother.

Rose heard this, " **Shouldn't you go with us?** " she queried him. He looked at her, " **Then who's going to watch Scarlet?** " he said. Rose realized her error, " **But, if another predator comes, neither me nor Quicks will know what to do. I'd feel more comfortable if you were the one watching Scarlet.** " Speckles realized that Rose did have a point. If another predator happened to show up and he wasn't watching Scarlet, she'd die, and whoever was watching her would also die, " **You do have a point. Alright. You and Quicks go that way and look for Veriforman while I stay here and watch Scarlet. When you see some, gather it quickly and come back here immediately.** " he said.

Rose was slightly hesitant at first, but Quicks reassured her, " **Almost forgot. If you encounter another predator in the woods, you can either lead them to me, if I am able to kill it that is, you can call me for help and hide, or you can just hide** **.** **Don't engage any predator when I'm not there.** " Speckles added. And with that, his two siblings went off to gather the medicinal plants, while he stayed back and watched his injured sister, not that she was going to go anywhere anytime soon.

 _In the forest, 3 hours later:_

Quicks had vaguely remembered what Veriforman looked like, but Rose had no clue about Veriforman beforehand, " **So, do you really think that we are going to make it to this Great Valley?** " Quicks asked his sister, just wanting to converse after almost a complete hour of silence between them and a close encounter with a T-Rex. Rose looked at him with slight confusion, " **With Speckles leading? Yes. He knows what he's doing. We've been on our own for almost 2 months. If it weren't for him, we would've either died of starvation, dehydration, getting eaten by another predator. We need him more than anything if we want to make it to the Valley. As dominant as he might sometimes be, he's our family and we'll need to learn how to survive from him. It's clear that Mom taught him many things that Dad never taught us** **.** " she answered.

Then, the ground shook for a second, " **What was that?** " Quicks asked. It happened again, the ground shook, except a little more powerful this time, " **Maybe an earthquake?** " Rose said. The ground shook again, even more powerful, " **No. It's not an earthquake. Something's coming. We'd better hide.** " Quicks said. He and Rose both ran into some thick bushes as the ground continued shaking. Eventually, a dinosaur that both of them could recognize anywhere came into sight. It was a Spinosaurus.

They didn't actually know how powerful a Spino was, but just looking at it, its massive size terrified the two young Tarbosauruses, " **What do we do? We can't call Speckles because there's not a chance he can kill that.** " Quicks said quietly. Rose looked at him out of the corner of her eye, " **I don't know. Maybe don't let it see us?** " she said. Then, the Spino started sniffing a nearby tree. Then, it kept sniffing, and it seemed to be following the same, or a similar path to the one Quicks and Rose had just taken, " **I think it smells us.** " Rose said. The Spino looked at the bush where they were, and it started walking towards it, " **Oh no.** " Quicks said.

The Spino stopped right above their bush, although it didn't see them, " **Okay, it knows we're here.** ( _To Quicks_ ) **We should probably start running.** " Rose said. She and Quicks ran out the other side of the bush right as the Spino basically stuck its snout in there and started sniffing it. It saw them run, it gave a roar, and it gave chase. Both Tarbos knew that there wasn't a chance of losing the Spino in a straight line, but they both thought about dodging in between trees, bushes, running back through the Spino's legs to confuse it, but they were running the wrong way, and they came to an open plain, not the same one Speckles and Scarlet were at, because this one had more forest ahead, two miles ahead, to be specific, and it had absolutely nothing on it whatsoever. No trees, no water bodies, no bushes, absolutely nothing at all, which meant nowhere for either of them to hide.

In fact, the only thing this plain had on it was a giant hill that neither of the Tarbos could climb up.

The realized their error and turned around, but the Spino was coming, and they didn't have a choice but to go forward, " **Now what? We can't outrun that thing, and there's nowhere to hide!** " Rose said. They had nothing they could possibly do to lose the Spino, besides pulling quick U-turns and running back through the Spino's legs. Although they didn't want to risk getting hit. If Raptor claws almost killed Scarlet, neither of them could imagine what a Spino's claws would do.

Rose doesn't know why she did it, but she called out for help. She did this even though she knew very well that Speckles could neither hear her, nor kill the Spino.

Even though Speckles didn't hear her, someone else did.

In the forest behind them, another Tarbosaurus was searching for food, and it heard Rose's cries. It saw them being chased by the Spino. This Tarbosaurus was a few years older than them, and, naturally, it couldn't just let other members of its own species die, so it ran after their attacker. It gave a roar, and the Spino stopped and turned around. When the young Tarbos heard the roar, they, for some reason, thought it was Speckles, and they turned around to see the Tarbo challenging the Spino, " **Who's that? And why are they challenging that Spino?** " Quicks said.

" **How should I know? Maybe they have a deathwish.** " Rose replied. The Spino and the Tarbo stood directly ahead of each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. The Spino made it. It went running at the Tarbo, aiming straight for its neck. Both Quicks and Rose wanted to run, but they wanted to see the result of this fight, as one of the two challengers was a member of their own species, " **Do you think that Tarbo will win against the Spino?** " Rose asked.

Quicks looked at the charging Spino, " **No. The Spino is a lot bigger than that Tarbo, which I think is only a few years older than us, too.** " he answered. The Tarbo started backing away, before turning to the right and running towards the hill. The Spino went after. Rose & Quicks both watched as the two got further from them and closer to the hill, " **How is that going to help them?** " Rose thought.

The Tarbo stopped at the bottom, looked to the top, and gave a roar. Then it turned back around to face the Spino, which had slowed from running to walking. The Tarbo just stood there, although it was trying to back away. The Spino approached the young Tarbo, which was roaring back, and the Spino was about to grab and eat it, but then there was a rumbling sound, followed by a moderate rockslide.

When this happened, the Spino immediately got distracted, allowing the Tarbo to sneak out. After a few seconds, the Spino realized its prey was trying to escape, and it turned around to give chase. It was about to run after, but the rockslide caught up and the Spino got caught in it, and eventually, buried in rocks. Then Rose & Quicks understood why it ran to the hill. The Tarbo looked at them up ahead, and it started approaching them.

They felt safe revealing themselves because this was a member of their own species, which they were sure would not attack them, so they started walking towards the other Tarbo as well. They both stopped in front of each other, " **Thanks.** " Quicks said. " **No problem.** " the Tarbo replied. " **What's your name?** " Quicks asked. " **I'm Claw** **,** " it replied.

" **Okay, Claw. Nice to meat you. Age?** " Quicks said. Claw did notice what Quicks' said, " **Nice one. I'm 7 years old. What are you two doing out here all by yourselves?** " he said. Quicks and Rose looked at each other, " **We're…trying to get to the Great Valley, but this isn't all of us** **.** **We're traveling with our brother, Speckles, and our sister, Scarlet. Speckles is leading us because our mother taught him more about survival than our father taught us. He sent us out to look for Veriforman to help Scarlet heal from her recent hunt.** " Quicks explained.

" **Veriforman? That works best on severe, almost life-threatening injuries. I can help you find some. They're quite a predominant plant in those woods.** " he said, walking back towards the woods. Quicks & Rose followed. They had just re-entered the forest when the Spino regained consciousness and started pushing rocks off of itself. It looked at the 3 Tarbos just as they disappeared into the trees. It snarled, got out from the rocks, and was about give chase, but then it picked up Quicks and Rose's scents, and it recognized them, " **Those two Tarbos. I know what happened to them.** " it thought. It didn't chase after them, " **They must know, but not now.** " it said to itself.

Claw, Quicks, and Rose were heading back to search for Veriforman and to go back to Speckles at the same time. " **What happened to your sister while she was hunting?** " Claw asked. Quicks looked at him, " **Well, Speckles was teaching us all how to hunt, mainly because our father never did, and I failed my first hunt, so I was starved, but he let my sisters hunt together, and he had them hunt a wounded Velociraptor. Scarlet was distracting it so Rose could go in for the kill, but the Raptor started chasing Scarlet, so the plan changed so Scarlet had to lead it to Rose, and then she'd grab onto its neck. Long story short, Rose killed the Raptor, but not before it swiped and cut Scarlet across her entire left side. Speckles, knowing more than we did, inspected her and concluded she wasn't going to die, thank goodness, and he sent us to get Veriforman for her cuts, and here we are.** " Quicks explained.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: A Helping Tooth**

Claw was impressed that they had been able to kill a Velociraptor, and he felt sympathy for their wounded sister. He himself had attempted to kill some Velociraptors a few times before, but he never had any success, if you didn't count the fact that he always got away and survived a success, " **Ooh. She really is lucky that Raptor didn't cut her any deeper. If it did, she would definitely bleed to death and there would've been nothing you could've done about it. Hey, look. Over there. There's some Veriforman. Grab it** **.** " Claw said.

Quicks and Rose went over to the plant he directed them to. Quicks and Rose both cocked their heads to grab the Veriforman leaves by the stem, " **Be careful not to bite too hard or the leaf will leak a clear ooze that will get into your mouth. Make sure you don't swallow it. If you do, you're as good as dead. The ooze is extremely toxic and it can kill a fully grown T-Rex within an hour or two.** " Claw warned, grabbing a leaf, too.

Quicks and Rose took this warning very seriously. They knew that Claw must have had the same, if not more, survival experience than Speckles. And they trusted him, again, because he was a member of their own species. They grabbed some of the plants without ingesting the ooze, thankfully, and they began walking back towards Speckles and Scarlet.

 _Back with Speckles:_

While Quicks and Rose were getting the Veriforman, Speckles had been intensely watching after his sister, " **You took quite a hit, you know. You're lucky that I know how to treat wounds like this, otherwise these cuts would definitely get infected and you'd die from it. You did get a little cocky while fighting that Raptor. You were biting its feet, which was smart. But you stayed a little too close to it, which was not smart.** " Speckles said to his sister.

Scarlet wasn't really paying attention to him. She was trying to stay awake, paranoid that she would die in her sleep. She had been paranoid of this possibility even after Speckles told her she wasn't going to die, and he told her that severe blood loss will almost always result in major fatigue, but she was still afraid. Speckles had long since given up trying to convince her, so he had sat down and waited.

When they returned with the Veriforman, Speckles growled softly at Claw, but then he realized Claw was also a Tarbosaurus, so he lowered his guard, " **Who are you?** " Speckles asked him. " **The name's Claw. Short for Clawface. I just killed a Spinosaurus and saved your siblings' lives, and I helped them find the Veriforman you wanted to heal your sister, Scarlet.** " he replied. Speckles looked at Quicks and Rose, " **We told him everything.** " Rose said.

Speckles tilted his head, " **We trusted him because he's the same species as we are. Don't you trust him?** " Quicks said, slightly raising his voice. Speckles then raised a brow, " **Okay. I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you speak to me in that tone. But, yes. I do trust him, but you must keep in mind that not every Tarbosaurus is going to be trustworthy. Some are always ravenous and if they see any of us, they may not try to restrain themselves from killing us** **.** " he said.

Claw gave a slight nod, " **He's right. There are other Tarbosauruses out there that are cannibals to their own species unless they find a mate, or have offspring. Other than that, they will eat any other Tarbos they may see. They'll eat us, especially because we're young, and they'll want to eliminate future rivals. You can't just go around believing every Tarbosaurus you come across will be friendly.** " he added.

" **You're lucky that this Tar…Claw…is and he seems to know the dangers of the world** **.** **Not many Tarbos do.** ( _To himself_ ) **Thanks for warning me, Mom** **.** " Speckles said. Then, he refocused on the task at claw, " **The Veriforman. Give it to me.** " Speckles said. They all placed it on the ground, and Speckles picked a leaf of it up. He went over to his relative, " **Get ready. This'll sting a little.** " he informed his sister.

She looked at him and nodded. He placed it on her cuts and he started rubbing it across them. Scarlet felt the sting, and she actually managed to growl because it stung so much. She just bared her teeth and endured the sting. Speckles rubbed the Veriforman all over her left side, and eventually he was finished, " **There. That should help your cuts heal quicker and them from getting infected.** **Oh. Another thing, this specific species of Veriform has the ability to mask the scent of your blood.** ( _Turns back to Claw_ ) **Now, where exactly were my relatives when this Spino chased after them?** " he said.

" **They were in that forest when they passed by, and the Spino followed a few seconds after. They ran out into an open plain and went straight for a rock wall. They were trapped, and I couldn't let other members of my…our species die, so I went and challenged the Spino.** " Claw responded. Speckles looked at him, " **You, a 7-year-old Tarbosaurus, decided to challenge a fully grown Spino?** " he said.

Claw knew Speckles could tell his age by scent, but Quicks and Rose did not, " **Yes, I did. Although I knew very well that it would easily kill me, but I got an idea. I roared at it, and the vibrations from my roar jostled the rocks on the wall and created a rockslide. Your siblings were smart and ran away when the Spino focused on me. The rocks fell and buried the Spino and I presume that killed it.** " Claw said.

One thing none of them were aware of was that the same Spino had followed them and was hiding nearby. It heard every word Claw said, and, needless to say, it was not happy to hear that the rockslide was an intentional attempt from him to kill it, " **That rockslide was created by that Tarbo? I thought it just happened. Clever move, but you're going to regret that you ever did that.** " the Spino thought before leaving.

Speckles heard the rustling of the trees and bushes, but he didn't think to inspect it. He did know that they had to keep moving east towards the Valley, " **Claw, can you help Scarlet walk? It'll take her a few days until she can walk on her own again.** " Speckles asked him.

Claw nodded, " **Yes.** " he answered. Speckles gave a small smile. He still didn't fully trust Claw just because he was a Tarbosaurus. Like he had said before, there were Tarbos out in the world that would not be friendly towards their own species.

Claw put Scarlet's arm over his shoulder, helped her stand, and they all continued going to the Valley.

As the weeks passed, Claw and Speckles taught Rose and Quicks how to hunt while Scarlet let her wounds heal. The Veriform did help her body to heal faster than it normally would have, but it still did take a while for the lacerations to heal completely.

Even though she was unable to hunt food for herself during this time, Speckles gave her special attention and provided her with large chunks of meat after hunts. Throughout those weeks, Speckles started becoming more trustful of Claw.

Even though he still had some minor concerns & suspicions about Claw, he ignored them.

He saved two of his siblings from a Spinosaurus, helped them acquire Veriforman for Scarlet, and he assisted him in teaching his siblings how to hunt while he took care of her.

One day, when Speckles was about to head out to find water, Claw offered to go with him. Speckles didn't want his relatives to leave his sight, but he and Claw both felt that the part of the forest they were in was relatively safe, with only Compys and occasional Microraptors flying overhead.

Speckles told them to stay there and watch Scarlet as her wounds were not quite healed yet. They nodded, and the two experienced Tarbos went out in search of water. After his relatives were out of sight, Speckles decided to engage Claw in a conversation to pass the time by.

" **So…why were you wandering alone when you saw Quicks & Rose?**" he asked. Claw was looking to the right before, but he looked straight ahead when the question was asked.

Speckles waited patiently for a reply. Then Claw stopped walking. And then Speckles stopped, too. He could see Claw starting to become misty-eyed. Claw then hung his head, sniffling. Speckles didn't rush him. He knew that it must've been something similar to what happened to his parents.

After a while, Claw finally spoke, " **My parents…were killed in front of me. I was only 3. My father…was killed by a Rex…and my mother fought it off to protect me. She and I made it out alive…but she…her wounds got infected. She sent me out to get some Veriforman for her. I left and got some…but when I got back…she was…dead, and a few Raptors were already feasting on her corpse.** " Claw said, trying not to cry mid-sentence.

He was doing his hardest to hold back the tears. Speckles understood his pain completely. He remembered the tragic day that he lost and his siblings lost their parents. As much as he tried not to think about it, sometimes it just came to him suddenly.

Seeing his mother try to come back to them, only for the ground under her to give way and have her fall to her death. Seeing his dad dead with a stalagmite through his body, and another one through his mother's leg, preventing her from getting up, and then her dying wish that Speckles leads his relatives to the Valley.

He became misty-eyed just remembering his mother's voice. He held back his tears as well, but he sure was close to crying. Eventually, they both pulled themselves together and they kept walking, " **I completely understand what you're going through. Me and my relatives' wound is much fresher than yours. Our parents only died 6 months ago. Yours died 4 years ago. I'm sorry I asked.** " Speckles said comfortingly.

Claw looked at him, " **No, don't be. It's harder for me because when they both died, I had no one to talk about it with, whereas you have your brother and sisters. But before my mother died, she always said that sometimes the most painful memories are the ones that give you the strength to keep going. As you can understand, it's not really a topic I like to speak about.** " he said.

After that, it was mostly silence between the two. A few times Speckles tried to start another conversation with Claw, but he couldn't think of many topics to talk about. A few times Speckles had something he could talk about, but when he tried to speak about them, he just uttered sounds that sounded like the beginning of words, but then they fell just short of that.

Claw didn't seem to notice this. After a while, they did find a lake, but there was a minor problem. It was currently inhabited by a large herd of giant sauropods, " **Supersauruses.** " Speckles said, hiding in the bushes.

Claw knew as much about Supersauruses as Speckles did, " **Sauropods that reach up to 54 feet in height. The only thing bigger is an Ultrasaurus. Although encountering them instead would be no better.** " he added.

They looked at each other, " **How exactly are we going to get water without them seeing us? They're so tall they'll easily see us from over there. They will attack because they're herbivores and we're carnivores. If they see us, they can crush us very easily.** " Speckles said.

Claw looked around the lake, and he got an idea, " **Over there. I know that there is a creek that goes alongside that end of the lake. It's a small distance away, which will be beneficial to us.** " he answered. Speckles thought that was a good idea, but there was another problem, " **How do we get over there?** " he queried.

Claw looked at him, " **We have to swim.** "

Speckles knew very well how to swim, but since Tarbosauruses were sort of similar to T-Rexes, swimming would be a little difficult. Now at this age, their arms were large enough to support them and keep them afloat, but they couldn't swim very fast.

Luckily, they both knew that Sauropods swam even slower than them. They realized that there wasn't any other way to get to the creek and the walked in and began.

Both of them needed to preserve as much energy as they can, due to the lake's large distance from their end to the other, " **Remember, as long as you have air in your lungs, you will stay afloat. Don't panic and hyperventilate. You'll use more energy and you'll drown. Just keep calm and kick steadily.** " Claw said.

Speckles was already doing this, " **Yeah. Thanks for telling me something I already know.** " Speckles thought. A few times the herbivores looked in their direction, and in which case they ducked underwater for a few seconds before reemerging above the water when it was safe.

Halfway across the lake, Speckles started getting slightly exhausted. His kicks started becoming slightly less frequent, but he was still keeping up. At one point, one of the Supersauruses looked and it saw them, but it didn't register in its mind that the swimming dinos were carnivores, and it paid no attention.

Speckles had seen it look right at him, and he panicked for a second before the Supersaur looked away as if nothing unusual happened, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

After about 15 minutes of steady kicking, they finally reached the other side of the lake and immediately ducked into some bushes, " **Whew! That was refreshing, taking a swim.** " Claw said, shaking himself off, splattering Speckles.

Speckles returned the favor, " **You got that right.** " he said, doing the same thing. After they dried themselves off while splattering each other, they went to the creek to hydrate themselves.

They both knew they could've drank the water from the lake, but they both knew very well what dinosaurs sometimes did in bodies of water such as lakes.

They started lapping up some water for a while. Speckles was done quite quickly, but Claw kept drinking as if he'd been dehydrated for a while, " **Why does every other Tarbosaurus drink water like they're dehydrated and there'll be none left for another time?** " Speckles thought.

Once Claw was finished, the water got the slightest red tinge to it, " **You see that?** " Claw said. Speckles knew very well what it was, " **Blood. Something is wounded upriver. Should we see what it is?** " he said.

Claw shook his head no, but then he and Speckles picked up the scent of blood, and they got anxious, so they ultimately went to see what was bleeding. They snuck through the foliage, following the ever-so-slightly increasing tinge of blood in the water.

Once they found out the source of the water, Claw got a little concerned, " **Oh no.** " he said quietly. Speckles was unaware of the reason for his worry, " **What?** " he asked.

Claw knew the creature by previous appearance, " **That's a Spino. Specifically, the one who should have died from the rockslide I made to save your relatives. It's wounded, and its washing its cuts to prevent infection. Let's hope it…** ( _Sniffs_ ) **he doesn't find any Veriforman and then finds me or your siblings. He will not be very happy to see the one who tried to kill him. Let's get back to the others and continue west.** " he informed the younger Tarbo.

Speckles understood his reasoning, " **You're right. Let's get outta here, quick.** " he said. They both headed back the way they came, taking 15 more minutes to swim to the other end of the lake, and then getting back to Scarlet, Rose, and Quicks.

They told them that they needed to start moving again, and that food would have to wait. None of the three were happy about delaying dinner, but they had to follow the leaders, and they did, Scarlet, of course, being assisted.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: When Disaster Strikes**

 _So far in their journey, the four Tarbosauruses had covered over 120 miles from where they began, and it had taken them almost a year to make it that far. They still had another 593 miles to go. It'd take them over 3 years to cover this distance and finally reach the Valley, the paradise Mom had told them about._

 _3 years later:_

After traveling days on end for almost 4 years, the five Tarbosauruses eventually caught sight of Saurus Rock, " **Look! It's Saurus Rock! We're finally here!** " Speckles said.

At this time, they were all now eight years old. Claw had stayed with them all that time, and he was now 10, " **Well, let's go! We'll never have to worry about food again if your mother is right about the herbivores here.** " he said.

Speckles gave him a sideways glare, but Claw didn't notice, " **I know she's right.** " he thought. They all walked toward the entrance, but then they realized that the Valley had herbivores, they were carnivores.

They saw the Secret Caverns and decided to got through. They came to the end of the Secret Caverns, and the had a view of most of the Valley. There were a good amount of herbivores, but they quickly realized that there weren't any young herbivores around, only large adults that could easily kill them.

Then, Speckles thought that they couldn't kill the herbivores and survive that way, but he came up with a more…extreme idea, " **Maybe we can live among these herbivores if we deem ourselves as no threat to them.** "

All his siblings looked at him, eyes wide open, " **Are you insane!? They will always take us as threats, no matter how small we are. We CANNOT physically live among herbivores as carnivores. Besides, even if we could, our instincts as hunters would take over us and we'd kill one of them.** " Quicks said.

Claw overheard them, although he was still looking straight ahead, " **Actually, maybe we can. I speak a little bit of herbivore, and maybe I can communicate with them and tell them that we mean them no harm and just want to live alongside them.** " he said.

Now everyone, including Speckles, looked at him, " **You speak herbivore? Since when?** " Scarlet queried. Claw just looked at her, " **Okay. Then let's infiltrate the Valley and see how these herbivores live instead. Does that sound better?** " he said. They all decided, even though it was a suicidal idea, Claw was older and had slightly more knowledge than he did, so they went along with infiltrating the Valley, " **Well, okay. If we're going to be watching these herbivores, we need to make sure they don't ever see us or we'll have to either kill them or run.** " Claw said.

Along with his age, Speckles and his siblings had become best friends with Claw, and they all trusted each other equally with their lives, so they all followed Claw towards the exit of the Secret Caverns.

Then, about halfway out, a powerful earthquake began shaking the caves. They all saw the stalactites hanging from above, and they knew instantly that they needed to get the hell outta the caverns, " **Go! Sprint! We need to get out of here before we're crushed!** " Claw said.

They all started sprinting just seconds before a stalactite landed where they were just standing. Quicks instinctively looked back and saw the sharp rock shatter into a million pieces upon impact. This made him run a little faster.

They all saw the light of the exit getting closer, and they were about to run right out of the Caverns when a rock fell and blocked them in, " **NO!** " Speckles yelled. Claw saw this happen and his lowered his head and growled.

Everyone wondered what he was trying to do, but then they all understood. Claw was going to ram through the rock like a Trike or Pachyrhinosaurus. Although he was a 10-year-old Tarbosaurus, he ran into the rock and fell to the ground, " **Ow.** " he said, slightly dazed.

Everyone else came skidding to a stop, " **I don't know why I thought that that might've worked.** ( _Sees something_ ) **Wait. We can push the rock aside! Claw, help us! We'll all push that way and get out of here!** " Speckles said.

Everyone else saw what he saw, a slight gap between the edge of the mouth of the caverns and the rock. Claw got back up and everyone started pushing the rock.

It wasn't budging at first, but then Claw curled his toes to get a stronger grip, then Speckles did the same, and his siblings followed one-by-one. They started making progress with reopening their only exit.

Eventually, Speckles heard a faint rumbling sound, and he paused on pushing and looked back where they had come from. He saw that the top of the cave was breaking and collapsing down, and it was happening foot-by-foot as it got closer to them, " **The cave roof's collapsing! We've gotta hurry!** " Speckles alerted everyone. He soon got back to pushing the rock.

They did get the rock out of the way, and they ran out right as the cave roof above them gave out and fell right where they were. They kept running a short distance away from the cave so they didn't inhale too much dust and debris.

They shortly after stopped, right at an entrance to the Great Valley. They stood there, thinking they were safe as the earthquake kept going. Then, another crumbling sound became audible to them all. Speckles looked up to see that the rocks on top of the entrance to the Valley were falling down, " **Get into the Valley before those rocks block us!** " Speckles yelled.

He ran into the Valley while everyone else looked up to see the same thing, " **Wait for us!** " Scarlet said. The rest of them ran in and followed where Speckles went. He found some very thick foliage with nothing capable of crushing them nearby and hid in them. The others followed suit.

They saw the herbivores having similar calamities, not the ones the five were just in, but worrying about things falling on top of them. One Pachyrhino even fell over after a tree fell in front of it and it couldn't stop running quick enough.

They all stayed well hidden while they watched how the herbivores handled an earthquake.

One thing Speckles found quite peculiar was just the immense power and duration of the earthquake. It had been going on strong for about 7 minutes, and it wasn't showing any signs that it was dying down, " **This earthquake will probably have a lot of aftershocks.** " he joked. Nobody laughed, or even looked at him for that matter. He didn't really care, but to him his joke was funny.

After what felt like a literal eternity, the earthquake finally stopped. During the quake, there were some herbivores that had taken shelter, and they started coming out and they seemed to be assessing all the damage the quake had done, which, in truth, wasn't that much, if you didn't count than one entrance was blocked with rocks, and almost all of the trees fell down.

The carnivores watched how the herbivores were reacting to the powerful quake. The first thing they noticed was that there were different species of herbivore all living together peacefully. Speckles was about to make a comment on this, but they heard footsteps approaching their location.

Speckles looked all around to see what and where the creature making the noises was, and the answer he got was right in front of them. A Gallimimus came strolling right past them. When Speckles saw it, he froze and held his breath.

The Galli went right past them without stopping. Speckles was relieved, but then the Galli stopped shortly after and turned around. It looked right at the foliage they were in, and then Speckles tensed back up, " **Guys, I think we've been spotted already. Look.** " Speckles whispered.

They all turned around and saw the Galli walking directly toward them, " **We can't run. The exit has been blocked and none of us, not even me, can climb that wall quick enough before the other herbivores get to us.** " Claw said.

Speckles was readying himself to jump, grab, and then kill the Galli and drag its body into the bushes. He was about to lunge at it when it spoke to them, " **I know you five are hiding from the residents of the Valley. I will not alert them to your presence if you tell me why you are here.** "

They felt like it was a trick, but seeing how the Galli knew that there were five of them and that they were in the foliage even though they were hiding so good, especially for their large sizes, that even a person with the sharpest of eyes never would've seen them. They had mastered the art of hiding in foliage which camouflaged them all very well.

They peeked out and looked at the Galli, "Who are you and how did you know we're here?" Claw asked. The Galli had a blank expression before, and it still had it, although it seemed to prefer speaking in carnivores, " **I am Sage. We Gallis have a sense in us that tells us when a dinosaur we can't see is nearby.** " it said. They all believed him.

When he told them about the sense thing, he was making it up. He wasn't allowed to tell them how he really knew that they were there, " **You five are hiding to spy of the residents to see how they live and interact, correct?** " he said.

By now, all the Tarbos were exchanging looks with one another as to how Sage knew basically everything about what they were doing, but they didn't question him about that, " **Yes.** " Speckles said.

Sage smiled slightly, " **Okay. If you want to see how the residents interact here, you have two options. One, you can continue hiding and secretly watch them, which will result in you being caught and killed.** " he began.

Claw cocked his head, " **Or?** " he said. Sage looked at him, " **Or…you can let me testify on your behalf of wanting to live among these residents in peace, which there is a high chance that they will accept you as they hold me as the wisest dino in the Valley. But what you do is ultimately your choice.** " he finished.

Of course, all the carnivores liked the sound of living amongst the herbivores, no hiding from them, but they again remembered that their carnivorous instincts would most likely kick in at some point and they'd kill an herbivore, and then be most likely chased out from the Valley.

They all huddled together like a football team discussing a game plan. They took a minute, but they finally made their decision. It was a risky one, but they had a felling Sage might've been able to help them with it, " **We'll live among the herbivores in peace.** " Claw said.

Sage smiled, revealing his semi-sharp teeth, " **Good. Let's go. You'll have to prove your worth, and helping them clean up the debris left by that earthquake.** " he said, beginning to walk towards the rest of the Valley residents.

The moment that a Pachyrhino saw the five carnivores, it gave a yell that all residents heard, "Carnivores!" All herbivore heads snapped to the five approaching carnivores. All the residents stopped cleaning up the debris and started running towards them.

Sage stopped them all, "No! Stop, all of you! They've come here to live alongside you in peace. They mean none of you any harm." he said. All the residents went wide-eyed at that, "Peace? No carnivore has ever wanted peace with herbivores! Besides, the Valley is only for herbivores in the first place, no carnivores are ever to be living here!" the Pachyrhino who originally alerted the Valley of the Tarbos' presence.

Sage knew there'd be heavy opposition to Claw, Speckles, and his siblings living with them peacefully, and he was prepared for this, "No, the Valley is not just for herbivores. Truthfully, the Great Valley is for dinosaurs who just want a home and to feel like they're part of a family. These five all lost their homes and their families over 3 years ago, and they've survived long enough to make it here. How can you all possibly deny any dinosaur, whether they have sharp teeth and eat meat, or have flat teeth and eat plants, a safe place to live and the satisfying feeling of being a member of a family? Isn't that what the Great Valley is really meant to be?" he said.

That statement had no possible answer. With just a few words, Sage single-handedly questioned whether not allowing the five to live in the Valley was really right. The residents all looked at each other, and then back to Sage.

"Okay. You're right. But don't think we've forgotten that they still have their natural hunting and killing instincts. If they wish to live among us, they must either adapt to eating fish from the river, or hunt and eat outside the Valley. One single death inside the Valley from them, and they'll be gone faster than you can say 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.' You understand that, Sage?" the Pachyrhino said.

Sage nodded and then glanced back at them, "Okay. I will make sure to keep an eye on them if that makes you all feel safer." he said, looking back and winking at the carnivores.

The Pachyrhino nodded, "Yes. We would all appreciate you doing that, Sage. At least until the carnivores get the idea of what they're allowed and not allowed to do." he said before turning around an resuming cleanup of the debris that was all over the place.

The rest of the residents also turned around and they all went back to the part of the Valley they were previously at, cleaning up. Sage looked back at them, and he spread his arms, " **Welcome to your new home!** " he said.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Work, Work, Work, Work, Work, Work**

After Sage had convinced the Valley residents that the five Tarbos just wanted a place to live, he explained to them a little more about the Valley, " **This place is the holy grail for herbivores. Every winter, when food out there, in what they call the Mysterious Beyond, starts diminishing. Herds from all over the land will migrate here for refuge and food. Along with this, the Valley has a 'Great Wall' that is intended to keep all carnivores, like you, out. Now, I'm going to stick around here to convince any migrating herds that you mean them no harm. The more herds that come here and see you living peacefully alongside the residents, the more your reputation will spread, and the more trustworthy herbivores will find you upon their arrival. When the herbivores don't suspect you as harmful, I will have to leave and you'll be on your own. Hopefully, by the time that happens, you will have adopted the habits of either eating fish only or hunting outside the Valley. As the Pachyrhino said, if you harm a single resident here, they will banish you forever. Now, in a few days' time, a group of very young herbivores will show up here. I would recommend that you befriend them and gain their trust.** " he said.

Then a Trike called to him, "Sage! A little help here!" He looked in the direction of the herbivore, "Coming! **Gotta go. Now, you might want to make yourself useful and help out around here. Just because you're new and you're carnivores doesn't mean you're exempt from helping.** " he said, walking towards the Trike.

Then, he stopped briefly, " **Oh. And one other thing. You're going to have to learn how to speak their language. No one here, besides me, can speak your language. I know one of you does speak a little herbivore, but I'll help you learn. Just come to that pond early in the morning and I'll be there.** " he added. He continued towards the Trike.

The five Tarbos all exchanged glances, " **Okay. Well. Claw? Do you know how to ask the herbivores what they need help with?** " Speckles asked. Claw nodded, " **Yes. I can understand everything that herbivores say, but I can't translate some things from our language to theirs quite as easily.** " he answered.

They all gave a sigh of relief, " **That's good. As long as we know what they're saying, we should be alright until we need to speak back.** " Quicks said. Afterward, they all split up to help in different parts of the Valley. Quicks went to an Apato trying to move a rock, Scarlet and Rose went towards the Pachyrhino from before, and Claw went to a Pteranodon.

Speckles didn't see any herbivores that looked like they needed help. He didn't really see anything he could do at the moment, but he was a little thirsty, so he went to the pond that Sage had pointed them to. He started lapping up water when Sage seemed to appear on the other edge of the pond shortly after and spook him, " **That was quick.** " he said.

Speckles jumped when he spoke, " **Yikes! You scared me.** " he said, continuing to drink. Sage lowered his head down as if he were next to Speckles, " **Why did you come here so quickly?** " he asked.

Speckles felt slightly stupid answering this question, " **Um, to take a drink.** " he said, pausing and then resuming. Sage stared at him, and Speckles had a feeling. He stopped again and looked up, " **What do you want?** " he said, starting to get annoyed. Sage noticed this, " **Get out of here. You aren't allowed to drink from here.** " he said.

Now Speckles stopped drinking completely, and he was starting to get a little agitated at Sage, " **What? Who says I can't?** " he snapped back. " **I did. You know you don't really belong here, you murderous beast.** " Sage said calmly.

Now, Speckles got angry. He went over to the other side of the pond and smacked Sage with his head. Sage went on, " **You know, the paradise your mother spoke of? It doesn't really exist. She lied to you.** " he said.

For Speckles, that was the last straw. He grabbed Sage's neck and forced him down to the ground. Then, Sage started waving his finger back and forth " **Ah, ah, ah. You remember what the Pachyrhino just said you couldn't do?** " he said.

Speckles then stopped and released him, " **What's wrong with you? Do you all of sudden hate me, or do you have a split personality?** " he queried. Sage got back up, " **No, nothing is wrong with me** **. I was just testing to see if you could control yourself if someone in the Valley started insulting you. It's safe to say you can't. Had I have been anybody else, you would've been chased out of here on the spot. If you really want to live here for the remainder of your life, you've got to learn how to control your emotions. I'll help you with that if you come here at dusk. Your siblings and Claw, especially, will need help as well. I'll brief them on this, and I'll help you all individually at different times of the day. Would you like me to do that for you all?** " he said.

Speckles got the idea and he nodded, " **Of course. I didn't actually think about that. I didn't realize at first that there will be some herbivores out there that don't approve of the idea of carnivores living with herbivores. Honestly, I'm glad you just did that. Otherwise, if you hadn't, I would've been chased from here the moment someone started insulting me. And I guess the same would go for my siblings and Claw.** " he said, picturing him doing the same thing to some other herbivore who had done the same thing as Sage had.

Sage nodded and left while Speckles continued drinking.

* * *

Claw had gone to help a Pteranodon that was trying to move some fallen trees, but it wasn't having much success. He did his best to speak to the Ptero, " **Do…** Do you…need…some…help?"

The Ptero looked at Claw, internally surprised that he spoke herbivore, but not letting it show much, "Yes, in fact. I need to move these trees to the river so they'll be out of the way, but I can barely get them to move on my own. As you can imagine, my species isn't the strongest." it said.

Claw felt he was capable, "Okay. I can help with…that." he said. He went over to the trees, and he started pushing them while the Pteranodon kept pulling them. They started making progress.

Technically, Claw was doing all the work. The trees were being moved by him, but the Ptero wasn't really affecting the trees at all by pulling them. Claw pushed the tree slowly towards the river.

He didn't think to turn the first tree and roll it to the water until the tree was floating away, "Oh. I could… **have…** spun the log...around." he struggled to say. The Pteranodon understood.

"Oh, yeah. Me neither. Well, now we know an easier way to get the trees over there. There are two more trees." it said. As Claw walked back to them, he realized he might as well get to know the Pteranodon while he was there, " **What's** …your name?" he asked.

The Ptero looked up to him, "I'm Ski." he said. Claw looked down at him, "Sky?" he queried, just wanting to be sure he got it right later on. Ski looked at him, "Yes. It's pronounced Sky, but it's spelled with an 'I' instead of a 'y.'" he said. Claw understood, "Oh…okay. I just…wanted to be sure." he said. "Don't worry. Everyone who first meets me thinks its spelled with a 'y.'" he said.

Claw felt a little better. "Okay. Ready? Three. T…Two. **Uh…** One. Push!" Claw said. He started rotating the tree sideways so it was parallel with the river, and he started pushing it with his head, and it was much easier to move than the first one.

Ski flew a little overhead to make sure that there wasn't anything in the way as Claw couldn't really look ahead himself.

He had a clear path, and Ski just let him know, "You're good! Keep going." he said. Claw kept pushing and pushed it right into the river as well. Ski landed next to him, "You are a good dino to have around for things that require a lot of strength." he said.

Claw appreciated his kind nature, "Thank you." he said. Then they moved on to the very last tree. Claw did the same thing, and while he was pushing the tree, Ski noticed something moving in front of it, "Stop." he alerted Claw.

Claw stopped and looked ahead to see what Ski saw. He saw a very small dinosaur hopping in front of the log, not even seeming to notice either of them. " **Hey.** That's a…uhm…what is…that dino?" he asked aloud.

Ski landed next to him, "That's a Compy. They're really the only non-herbivore dinosaur allowed in the Valley because they're so small and completely harmless to us. Let it pass before you continue." he said.

Claw, in all his time of wandering outside the Valley, had never seen a Compy. It eventually looked towards the two dinos, and it got terrified when it saw Claw looking at it. It started sprinting away.

Claw and Ski watched as the little dino as it disappeared into some bushes. Then Claw continued pushing the log. He finally got it to the water and both he and Ski watched the tree float downstream.

They looked at each other with smiles on their faces, "Good work…uh…" Ski began to say, not knowing Claw's name. He understood this, "Claw." he said. Ski nodded slightly, "Claw…good work. Let's help out someone else." he suggested.

Claw couldn't argue, "Sure." he said. They both started walking and looked for someone else who needed help.

* * *

Elsewhere, Scarlet and Rose found a pair of old Parasaurolophuses standing next to a medium-sized pile of rocks. They walked over to the herbivores and looked at them, "Be careful, honey. You never know what those carnivores might try." the male said.

The female nodded. Each pair of dinos stood looking blankly at the other pair, " **Scarlet, we need either Claw or Sage to translate what we try to say.** " Rose whispered to her sister.

Coincidentally, Sage just happened to be walking by and he noticed their issue, " **I can translate for you if you wish.** " he said. Both carnivores shot him a look that said, "What do you think," so he was the translator for both pairs.

" **Are you trying to move the rocks?** " Scarlet said. Sage translated this to both parties, "Yes, we are. But we're quite old and aren't able to move rocks this size anymore. There's a small stream being blocked by them."

The twins understood their reason, " **We can help you.** " Rose said. Sage translated, and the herbivores got the slightest expression of relief on their faces, but only Rose noticed.

Sage left while they began moving the rocks off of the watering hole. The Parasaurs seemed to have exaggerated their age slightly because they were moving rocks quite easily, but they quickly got tired from doing so.

Again, the carnivores were doing most of the work, with a little herbivore help here and there, until the rocks were out of the way, and the water started flowing again. The two pairs of dinosaurs looked at the other, and they decided that now was the perfect time to get a drink.

* * *

Quicks, meanwhile, found that maybe he should start moving some of the rocks that were blocking the entrance they had come in from. It was easy for him, at first, but then the rocks got larger, and he was becoming more exhausted.

Then, he heard medium-sized footsteps approach him, and, for some reason, he tensed up, "Do you want some help?" an herbivore asked. He didn't understand a word they said. He turned to face them. The voice belonged to a male Triceratops accompanied by another male and a female. He tried to speak to them, but he stopped mid-sentence because he remembered they couldn't understand what he said either.

They could understand gestures, so when the Trike asked him again, he nodded. He almost smiled, but he kept himself from doing so and showing his teeth. He felt that herbivores would get...spooked if they saw them. The Trikes came over and started shoving the rocks aside. They were more or less smashing the rocks to gravel more than they were moving them.

Quicks had to step aside at one point to avoid getting run into by the female. He almost admired how they were able to destroy stone so easily. He then got an idea, and he started hitting the rocks with his tail.

He didn't necessarily destroy them to the level that the Trikes were, but he was sending them flying across the land. The Trikes admired how much strength Quicks had, just in his tail. The female was about to compliment him, but she didn't know how to speak to him, so they just resumed smashing.

A full hour or so went by until there were only a few stones remaining.

The Trikes then stepped aside and let Quicks do the final few. He hit the last rocks so hard that they flew way off into the distance. Unfortunately, the very last rock flew far and hit a Spino on the head. Even more unfortunate for him was that it was the same Spino they'd encountered in the MB,

It looked in the direction of where the rock came from, and it could just see the opening to the Valley and Quicks, but it wasn't able to identify him because of the distance, " **Someone hit me with a rock. I will find out who.** " it said to itself.

All the Trikes were impressed with how effective Quicks was. The herbivores and carnivore looked at each other, and the Trike smiled. Quicks was hesitant to do the same back, but he pushed his worry aside and did.

The Trikes weren't scared, but they were surprised. Quicks' teeth were stained red. This was something that had been with him and the others throughout their entire journey to the Valley.

They had hunted and eaten so many creatures that their teeth all had a permanent blood-red stain to them. No matter what they did, they could not physically wash it all off. This always made them extremely hesitant to let their teeth be seen.


End file.
